A Book of Wonders
Daily Reflections for Awakened Living

"The first miracle performed by Jesus in John's gospel was at a wedding party in the village of Cana. At the height of the merrymaking there was a disaster: They ran out of wine. The Teacher, being informed of their plight, took large jars of water present for purification rituals at meals and changed them into gallons and gallons of wine. That wonder generated a second one as the gloom at the wedding was miraculously changed into intoxicating joy. The miracle-working Teacher promised us, his disciple-friends, that we would perform even greater wonders than he. So experiment with making miracles like his at Cana. Change a bland dinner into a festive occasion by infusing it with pleasure and enjoyment. Whenever a job, a social gathering, or a personal encounter seems as common and plain as water, be a wonderworker and change it into the wine of festivity by your good humor and love."

Remind me that, even lacking mystical powers,
I can still perform miracles if my desire is great,
if I have a healthy forgetfulness of myself
and a hefty appetite to make others happy.

The Speechless Wonder of Awe

"The great genius Albert Einstein was nicknamed by his parents as a child, der Depperte, or, the dopey one. Albert was so unusually slow in learning that his parents consulted a doctor about their young son who had such difficultly in speaking. Einstein later explained that his slow verbal development actually was an advantage since it allowed him 'to observe with wonder' the everyday things that others took for granted. He said that unlike others who puzzled over mysterious things, he was awestruck over the most commonplace. This exploration of the common paradoxically led Einstein to do the same with the cosmos. When asked, he defined his faith as a reverence for the creation of the universe and its laws, and the mysteriousness of their nature. If, like Einstein, you wish to experience the mysteriousness of life, then practice being slow to speak. Even if you appear to be der depperte by lacking words to describe or name some commonplace thing, you may discover the awe of its wonderfulness."

Make me a scientist of the commonplace
puzzling over the mystery of daily stuff,
wordlessly probing for the Great Mystery,
the Mother of wonders and the awesome.